Lawlessness breeds more lawlessness

“I have a friend in the ________dept and she does me favors.”  “These rules don’t apply to X dept.”  “So and so can do what they want”.

If you allow “rulebreaking” which includes looser standards for for some, it only breeds more rulebreaking and rule/policy/standard interpretations by individuals/groups.

You don’t want excessive rules and regulations, but the ones you do have and need for proper operations, customer service and measuring KPI’s, must apply to the conduct of all.  No exceptions.

Deliver the unexpected

People yawn at good service, delivering on time, and doing what you said you would – you are supposed to do that, right?  

What they will notice, remember and talk about is getting the unexpected – that something different, and something extra.  If you provide a repeat business like a restaurant or dry cleaners, you can deliver it at the end of the transaction, to stimulate another one.  But if you provide something they won’t likely buy again, you should deliver it before they make a buying decision so it can influence their decision making.

What can you deliver to your customers that is unexpected? 

Economic Cinema

If someone made a movie about your business, what would the story be to this point?  

Triumph over tragedy?  Just tragedy?  A love story?  

Is it worth watching?

How does it end?

"Wispy Heights"

If you love it and challenge yourself each day, and have no limits in your mind as to how far you can take this thing, and if you keep at it with all you’ve got year after year, you can soar to places nobody ever imagined.

This is business.

What failure taught you

Everyone fails.  Some learn not to try again, or not to be so bold and to play it safe.  Others learn a method that did not work, feel they are smarter now, and try again differently.

What did you learn?

Big dreams need big employees

If you have small dreams, any employee will do.

What kind of people do you need to make your goals a reality?

When it's time to say goodbye

When employing __________ gets to be more work than not employing __________, it’s time to stop employing __________.

There is only one problem in my business.

Me.  And as the leader, you are the problem in yours.

We can make our problems go away by changing our thinking and taking different action as a result.

Do you believe that?

High Priority

If you are successful digging for coal, you get coal.

If you are successful digging for gold, you get gold.

What are you working on right now?

The Rocking Horse

Don’t confuse motion with progress.  A rocking horse stays in motion, but makes no progress.

Are you improving your company’s ability to get results?